Thankful Thursday

I am perpetually blessed to have such a great husband and today I am especially thankful for him!

Kirb is taking off work for the kids spring break next week {and tomorrow} so we can have some fun family time together {and because he knows it would get to be a long week for me with everyone home . . . especially if the weather stays gloomy}. What a guy. We are all pretty excited for the break.

He's always got more than enough to do at work, so preparing to miss 6 works days is a little stressful. Last night, after helping get all the kiddos in bed {who am I kidding? He puts them to bed without much help at all from me. I usually sit on the couch and read} he headed back to work and didn't come home again until sometime after midnight {I had already gone to bed} . . . then he was up and out the door and back at work before I even got out of bed this morning. He is such a hard worker.

On top of that, whenever it was that he got home, he found Rebekah in his spot in our bed {she couldn't fall asleep again . . . and once she finally did, she didn't sleep well at all. I usually don't share a bed with her, but I really hope she isn't that restless and fitful every night!}. Instead of disturbing her by sending her elsewhere he just settled in on the couch . . . I guess if you only get to sleep a few hours it might as well be a little uncomfortable, right? Then you aren't as tempted to not get up when you need to!

And if that isn't enough, he had to get himself up off the couch about 2:30 to get Anna back to bed. During the day, that girl is all about her momma, but at night it is a completely different story! Like I said, Kirb usually does bedtime with all the kiddos. He likes it, plus I'm usually pretty beat by that time of day. Well, if Kirb happens to be gone at bedtime and I have to put Anna to bed she usually cries {or screams!} for a really long time and really doesn't fall asleep for real until Kirb gets home and goes in to sing to her and snuggle a bit. At night she's quite the daddy's girl. I had been up with her about 2ish -- these days she usually sleeps all night, but still gets up in the middle of the night occasionally {once every week or so}. When she wakes in the middle of the night, she is fine if I come up to check on her, but, like at bedtime, she won't go back to sleep without her daddy. Anyway, I heard her crying and knew Kirb wasn't going to get much sleep anyway, so I went up to put her back to bed. I read her 2 books, sang her 4 or 5 songs that she loves {although I am quite aware that my singing isn't on par with daddy's on any level!} and put her back to bed. About 7 seconds after climbing back in bed she starts at it again. This time Kirb went up and she went back to sleep, after a few songs, without a peep. Stinker!

With our other kids, when they pulled stuff like this we would just let them work it out on their own and put themselves back to bed. But with 7 people in the house, 1 of which has major sleep issues, we would rather not have her wake everyone up -- or even just Rebekah. When we were upstairs with her and all the other kids were downstairs she really never woke anyone up other than us, but it's a different story these days. That's one of the trade-offs of a big family and tight quarters, I guess. What can do you do?

Not only does he work hard and {nearly} always do bedtime, but he cooks practically all the meals. All the tasty ones anyway! And, did I mention, he can tell an amazing story! The kids {the boys especially} LOVE them. I can read a book, but I'm no storyteller. Jacob has taken to recording Daddy's stories on his MP3 player and playing them back for Joe on nights when Kirb doesn't tell them a story. It's pretty sweet. Plus, he's super thoughtful. Last night I had to run something to the post office after he got home from work and, as I was leaving, he said "Why don't you get yourself a little treat while you're out." What a guy! Many husbands would say {or at least think} "Honestly, you're leaving at this crazy time of day! Am I supposed to make dinner? How long will you be gone? Hurry back, ok!" But not Kirbs, he pretty much says, "take you time and have fun. I'll see you when you get back."

Oh, and I think he's pretty cute too. And funny. Did I mention funny?

I love you, babe! Thanks for being so super wonderful! I am thankful for you. So thankful!